Paperback

English language

Published Jan. 1, 2009 by Oxford University Press.

ISBN:
978-0-19-955494-2
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5 stars (1 review)

When Humphrey Van Weyden finds himself struggling in the freezing waters of San Francisco Bay he thinks the worst that can happen to him is drowning. After he is recued by the Ghost and its captain, Wolf Larsen, Humphrey discovers that there are fates far worse than death. On Laren's hell-ship the dilettante hero is forced to slave as cabin boy and humble seaman. Over the seven months' voyage to the sealing grounds off Siberia he engages in an epic duel with his ruthlessly Netzschean skipper, a conflict which must end with the death of one of them.

1 edition

a lovely read brought down a notch by its forced romance

5 stars

i honestly don't even remember why i had this book. but while unpacking boxes after a recent move, i held it in my hands and thought "why not?"

it's a great book. the two main characters have an interesting dynamic between them and i found myself enthralled by their conversations. the last third of the book introduces a love interest, maud brewster, which is handled rather clumsily. humphrey has barely spoken to the woman before declaring his undying love for her. a love that, in his own words, he had never felt before. would be cool if it took more than one conversation over dinner with all the sailors present to establish that. london does well to actually establish a romantic connection between them by the end of the book, but van weyden's waffling about how much he loves this woman that he met about a week ago and who …